Hi everyone! My daughter is going to turn 2 in March and my husband and I have started looking for preschools for her. She already knows her ABC's and can count to 10 in three languages (although she usually skips 4 for some reason), so she is really ahead of the game in some aspects, but socially she is an only child and really has problems playing and sharing and interacting with others. So we want to make sure to start her at a place where she can get a lot of individual attention with a great curriculum but can interact with kids too. The one big snag is that we are raising her in the Jewish religion and there don't seem to be a lot of options besides Canterbury and Willowbrook Day School (both really expensive) that offer non-religion programs for preschoolers. Has anyone heard of any other good preschools that don't have any Christian programming? Has anyone heard anything really great about Canterbury or Willowbrook? Thanks for any feedback! By the way, we live up North in Fort Wayne, so we would love it to be somewhere close to there, so we wouldn't have to drive here all over the place. We are only looking for a few days a week, to start out with, for next school year.
Thanks,
A. C
Another Montessori option for you may be Oak Farm School. It is located near Avilla, but a lot of people from the north side of Fort Wayne take their children there. It would probably only be around a 20 minute drive, although I'm not sure how expensive it is.
http://www.oakfarm.org/ofms.nsf/html/Home
Ft wayne community schools has a couple pre-school programs offered through a couple of the magnet programs--such as the Montessori based program. There are 2 other Montissori schools in Ft Wayne also--one private (expensive) and 1 public for low income parents--THe Martin Luther King Montessori. They all start at age 3. Also don't rule out church affiliated ones. Many are independent and don't have religious education. My youngest went to a Methodist church close to her day care provider because some of the other kids went there(south end of town). At first i was concerned when she came home saying if she was bad she would go to hell!!! I was furious and went to talk to the director--they had other complaints about this teacher and fired her. They then hired a young Jewish woman who was a student in early chilhood development--she was great, my daughter loved her.The most they did was a simple, non-denominatioanl prayer at snack time--Thank you God for this food etc. So anyway, ask what their policies are on religion--you might find something that works for you and your daughter.
http://www.jewishfortwayne.org/ganb.asp
A Jewish pre-school I found when searching for a pre-school for a friend, looks interesting!
My daughter attended the preschool mentioned in the first response, "Pine Hill Country Day School". They have a heavy emphasis on language, with some teachers speaking only Spanish to the children. It is a small private school, with lots of fun activities planned each month. My daughter now attends a large, public school and misses the perks of a small school.
The director offers tours just about every Sunday. The cost is reasonable, and you can pick and choose what days your child attends...even a mixture of half and full days. They start at age three and potty trained.
Best of luck to you~
I have always heard very positive things about Pine Hills (I think is the name) it is located on the corner of Lynn Ave and Beacon Ave.... one block from State/Beacon intersection (behind the karate place) They ofter more than one language and I read awhile ago that they were ranked close to, if not #1, day care in FW.
Good Luck.
